FLOW CYTOMETRY SHARED RESOURCE Director: Philip R Streeter, PhD ABSTRACT / PROJECT SUMMARY The Knight Flow Cytometry Shared Resource provides Knight Cancer Institute members with state-of-the-art instrumentation, expertise, and infrastructure that fully support investigator needs for analytical flow cytometry and cell sorting. In the cancer setting, flow cytometry offers investigators a means of studying cells derived from diverse hematologic and solid cancers, non-cancerous cells from the microenvironments in which cancers reside, and cells from non-cancerous regions of the body. Flow cytometry facilitates the investigation of cells either at the population level or at the single cell level. In addition, the integrated use of cell isolation (by flow cytometry; within the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource) and downstream assessment of isolated cells (by proteomics or genomics; within the Proteomics Shared Resource and/or the Integrated Genomics Shared Resource) provides Knight investigators both the structure and technical expertise to facilitate highly complex interdisciplinary studies. The primary areas of focus for the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource staff are customer service/support, continuous improvement of standard flow cytometric technologies, and the introduction/establishment of new technologies or platforms to enable cutting-edge scientific investigation by Knight members. The services and technologies offered thru the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource are broadly supportive of Knight members, with nearly two-thirds of total Flow Cytometry Shared Resource usage by Knight members. Strategic decisions that impact the facility are made by the Knight senior leadership and the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource Advisory Committee. Support and services include: consultations, contributions to grant applications, education, training, data analyses, analytical flow cytometry, and cell sorting. Further, Knight investigators have the option of instrument self-use or operator-assisted use. The successful introduction/establishment of new technologies has allowed the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource to rapidly adapt to the changing needs of Knight members. By way of example, in 2012, a CyTOF instrument was purchased for the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource. The CyTOF, a mass cytometer, incorporates cytometry and mass spectroscopy, allowing investigators the potential to simultaneously analyze up to 34 parameters associated with individual cells. The resource also obtained a Luminex 200, an instrument enabling multiplex measurements of up to 100 analytes in solution. The technologies offered by the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource are having a positive transformative impact on research conducted by many investigators within the Knight. The establishment of new technologies has allowed the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource to have a central role in the research successes of many Knight members. During the next grant cycle, the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource will be expanded and new innovative platform technologies will be introduced to enable the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource staff to continue to meet the long-term needs of Knight members.